I’m so impressed with my little booger. Max is doing really well. The incision looks good and oozing is minimal. He stopped tolerating the ice so we stopped trying.
The first 2 days he was home he had SO much energy (he loved those pain meds!). He’s slowed down quite a bit (thank goodness but it’s also worried me a bit). We’ve been monitoring for pain and he seems a bit more reclusive, so we called the Vet today and increased his Gabapentin to 100mg every 8 hrs. I’ll see how it goes. He still very much wants to be near us and have his belly rubbed. He’s eating and drinking everything (he was always a piggy, so this is not new). The Gabapentin helps that appetite, for sure.
He spends most of the day resting until he demands more food. I know we need to keep the weight managed, so we’re watching how much we give him. Did I mention this cat loves to eat? I tried free-feeding as a kitten and that was a total disaster! I’m actually kind of glad for the hyperthyroidism as it got him nice and svelte. Once he’s off the Gabapentin his appetite should decrease a bit.
He pooped on the third day home! Yay! That was a huge relief. He’s pooping regularly now, so I’m super glad I bought the Miralax that I never used- haha. If I hadn’t gotten it, he wouldn’t have pooped… Murphy’s Law.
He’s taking his Felimazole tabs like normal, which is also a huge relief. We give the Gabapentin by opening the capsule onto a spoon and mixing it in a squirt of Delectables. He gobbles it down with zero issue.
Almost a week into the healing and I’m starting to relax a bit from the hypervigilant monitoring. He’s still not interested in grooming or scratching his incision. That could change…
The cat pee on him is still not all gone. Ugh. I used a little Dawn dishsoap on a very wet microfiber cloth and that helped. FYI- wet cat pee on cat? Barf-o-rama. He’s also grooming a bit more, thank goodness. But his belly still smells faintly of Eau De Urine. It was on his entire belly, all legs, his head and neck, everywhere.
We allowed our other cat Gracie to come say Hi. She sniffed him and walked away. Yeah, I don’t blame you girl, he’s stinky. She’s not too interested in seeing him and he hasn’t called for her yet, so that works for me. Gracie is our psycho kitty, poor thing. We can’t pet her or touch her (we’ve had her 14 years) and she does her own thing. But she and Max are besties. So I know she’s happy that he’s home, even if he stinks!
He loves using my calf and feet as a pillow.
I included a pic of our room setup and I used the wide angle so it looks MUCH bigger than it is! The gray rug is about the length of a yoga mat. Our house is very small. I crammed all the fabric stuff over to the side so he can’t get behind the table. The yoga mats do a great job of giving him traction. There is a rug pad under that chili towel so it doesn’t slide.
I bought him an orthopedic bed that he didn’t care about. So a quilt covered with his favorite Disney blanket works better.
Oh Max! You make my heart skip a beat, you are sooo sweet, and even if I could still smell you I’d probably feel the same way!
It’s too funny about the ortho bed. That happened to us. Went and got a brand new bed for Jerry and he HATED it. He much preferred his old Costco bed!
Well thanks again for all these wonderful pics. They are so helpful! This is shaping up to be an EXCELLENT Trikitty blog and we can’t thank you enough for the helpful tips.
I wonder how cat urine smell on a cat can be eliminated? I’m sure there’s something out there that’s gentle to a kitty just out of surgery. I know for dogs if you make an anti-skunk smell shampoo you can get the smell out. I think the base ingredient is hydrogen peroxide but I’d avoid that on a cat right now because it can destroy wound tissues and that’s thing you want. Maybe ask in the 3-Legged Cats Forum to see if anyone has better ideas?
Comment by jerry — September 20, 2021 @ 4:05 pm